Bark For Life attracts dressed-up dogs

Orrin Shawl for the Daily News

Updated 5:00 am, Sunday, June 14, 2015

Photo: Danielle McGrew | For The Daily News

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Megan Barnard of Midland, right, walks with her rescue dog Bailey and Nicole Trongo of Harbor Beach walks her Labradoodle Tucker at the Bark for Life of Midland County in Chippewassee Park in Midland on Saturday. Trongo dressed Tucker in swimming gear and colored his mowhark purple for the event, which included a costume contest. Purple, the color of Relay for Life, represents every type of cancer. "I'm here to honor my dad (the Rev. David Birnbaum) who died last August," Barnard said. less

Megan Barnard of Midland, right, walks with her rescue dog Bailey and Nicole Trongo of Harbor Beach walks her Labradoodle Tucker at the Bark for Life of Midland County in Chippewassee Park in Midland on ... more

Photo: Danielle McGrew | For The Daily News

Bark For Life attracts dressed-up dogs

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

The annual Relay For Life walk may not allow dogs to participate, but the organization has still kept them in mind.

For the third consecutive year in Midland, Bark For Life was the place to be for dogs Saturday at Chippewassee Park. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 30 dogs and their owners went for a walk across the Tridge and the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail to show off their costumes, tricks and barks.

Darlene Anderson, Bark For Life lead and Relay For Life chair, said the event was put on through Relay For Life and the American Cancer Society.

“It’s like a Relay For Life walk, but with our four-legged friends,” Anderson said. “They get cancer too, and we’re trying to research for them. And dogs are also wonderful companions for people who have cancer, so sometimes it’s about that.”

The event started out with an opening ceremony, where the event representatives were introduced. Then the dogs and owners went on the walk before speakers from the sponsoring organizations gave their speeches.

The contests carried the rest of the event, which included best costume, best swimsuit, loudest bark, biggest and smallest dog, best trick, and dog and owner look-alike.

Dressed as Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent, sport retriever Rusty was selected as best-dressed. Rusty’s owners, Alyssa Hulett and Jeremy Neff, got the idea for Rusty’s outfit when they found a pair of glasses.

“We found these really cool glasses and we just thought, ‘Hey, he would be a great Superman,’” Hulett said. “He loves getting dressed up. We didn’t enter this contest last year so we thought we needed to this year because he loves being dressed.”

The winner of the swimsuit contest was Tucker, a labradoodle rescued just a couple of months ago by Harbor Beach resident Nicole Trongo. Tucker won with his purple Mohawk, snorkel and flotation device.

“He likes going out to all these events and showing off his Mohawk,” Trongo said. “He really likes the attention.”

Bark For Life had sponsors for its event with their own booths, including the Humane Society of Midland County, SOS Animal Rescue, Chemical Bank and the TNT Dog Center. The TNT Dog Center, a business offering agility and obedience training for dogs, brought 16 of its dogs and demonstrated their skills in using a small A-frame, a teeter-totter and other obstacles.

The HSoMC was at the event in hopes of finding someone willing to adopt two of its dogs. Although they were unsuccessful, the pair of dogs drew a lot of interest.

“We find it important to support community events like this. Because it’s Bark For Life, we want to be prevalent here,” said Julie Eddy, a volunteer for the HSoMC. “We’re here to support the dogs and to educate, because most people don’t realize getting your dogs spayed and neutered helps reduce the risk of cancer.”